For many years, we've traveled to places around the world which intrigue us. Capturing photos, and always memories, this blog is our attempt to inspire others to pursue their dreams.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Monday, August 10th, Burns

Greetings!

Today was a sprint day, beginning at 8:30am and ending at 4pm. We did spend an hour at the Tamastslikt Cultural Center, one of the best-designed native arts facilities in the Northwest. The only native american museum on the Oregon Trail, it is a huge wooden structure, sitting at the far end of the property shared with a casino, golf course, and rv park by a confederation of three tribes (Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla). Though photos were not allowed inside, I would think it difficult to capture in images the displays and multi-media approaches the tribes utilize to tell their stories. Well worth a visit, this museum seems to have afforded the very best in design and content.

Arriving at Burns, we got lost trying to find a 187,000 acre National Wildlife Refuge south of town. The signage could be better, but I must admit we missed a key sign in the entrance to the town. An hour of detour, we finally arrived at Narrows, a ghost town straddling two huge (now dry) lakes which are flooded in April to receive over a million birds in the flyway up the west coast of the U.S.

Finishing the day with a pizza dinner in town, we're now watching the sunset, and planning a short drive tomorrow to Lakeview (where the chamber of commerce assures us there actually is a lake).